1. Field
This application relates generally to communication and more specifically, but not exclusively, to specifying quality of service parameters for bearers.
2. Introduction
A wireless communication network may be deployed over a defined geographical area to provide various types of services (e.g., voice, data, multimedia services, etc.) to users within that geographical area. In a typical implementation, access points (e.g., corresponding to different cells) are distributed throughout a network to provide wireless connectivity for access terminals (e.g., cell phones) that are operating within the geographical area served by the network.
In a typical implementation, one or more bearers are established between an access terminal and the network to facilitate communication between the access terminal and the network. In some aspects, such a bearer may specify the quality of service (QoS) to be supported between the access terminal and the network for this communication (e.g., for a particular connection). For example, a bearer may specify QoS parameters such as latency, maximum bit rate (MBR), guaranteed bit rate (GBR), error rate, and priority. Thus, the access terminal and the network may each determine how traffic flow for communication between these entities is to be handled based on the QoS parameters defined for the bearer.
In practice, communication standards employed by networks are continually evolving and each new version of a communication standard may support different functionality than prior versions. For example, a newer version of a communication standard may support additional QoS parameters that were not supported in a prior version of the communication standard. Hence, it is possible that an access terminal and a network at which the access terminal attempts to establish a connection may support different versions of a communication standard. For example, an older access terminal may attempt to communicate with a newer network entity, or a newer access terminal may attempt to communicate with an older network entity. In such a case, one of these entities may employ bearer QoS parameters that are not known by the other entity. Consequently, the attempt to establish communication may fail. Thus, there is a need for more effective techniques for specifying QoS parameters for bearers.